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But between August 2014 and May 2016, £30,000 of sales went through an account held by his company on eBay, where he made 82,000 sales listings.

He has now been sentenced to 18 months, suspended for two years, with 250 hours unpaid work, and an order to pay £1,000 prosecution costs. His firm, Comfy House Ltd, must pay £4,000 in fines.

Bajwa, of Oscar Street, Moston, admitted charges of possessing goods with false trademarks for sale, offering goods for sale with a false trademark and engaging in a misleading commercial action.

Some of the items Bajwa sold on eBay

He was caught on November 26 after Trading Standards called at his unit at Langley Business Park, Salford on and found 611 items branded with logos including Fireman Sam, Peppa Pig, Avengers, MUFC and MCFC, including armchairs, child-sized sofas, toyboxes and headboards.

The material covering the items had come from licensed goods, such as pillowcases and duvets, but because Bajwa had no licence to use them for his furniture he was in breach of copyright.

He was served with a prohibition notice by Trading Standards, but continued to trade on eBay regardless.

'He used the trademarks of anything you could imagine that would attract a child'

Meanwhile, when samples of Bajwa’s goods were tested, the cover material failed the fire safety ‘match test’, and were found to lack the ‘interliner’ which would protect the foam inside from coming contact with a naked flame.

Prosecutor Joseph Hart said: “Essentially the chairs were marketed as safe and compliant when they were not. He used the trademarks of Ben Ten, Lego, Marvel, Monster High and Hello Kitty - basically anything you could imagine that would attract a child. His motive was to make a profit, and he did so with no regard for whether the goods were unsafe.”

In interview, Bajwa said he started the business with a £20,000 loan, had copied safety labels before attaching them to goods, and used foam filling which came from ‘Pete in Moston’, which had not been safety tested, but was cheaper.

Atif Bajwa

Toby Wilbraham, defending, said: “He gave his own child one of these chairs - I don’t think he appreciated the risk himself.”

Council bosses have slammed businessman Atif Bajwa for putting profit before safety

Speaking after the case, Ben Dolan, strategic director for environment and community safety at Manchester council, said: “Safety testing protects life and limb and cannot be casually disregarded and I hope this case makes that clear to businesses.

“Mr Bajwa made no attempts whatsoever to comply with the law and put profit before children’s lives. His products could have killed or seriously injured children.”

Councillor David Lancaster, lead member for environment and community safety, said: “It’s clear that Mr Bajwa made no attempts whatsoever to comply with the law. He put profit before children’s safety.

“His negligence and greed could have killed or seriously injured children in a fire.”

Records from eBay showed Mr Bajwa continued to sell furniture despite a suspension notice banning him from doing so. He claimed he was buying items from a market trader at Smithfield and selling those, rather than ones he had made himself, but Smithfield Market said no trader there had ever sold children’s furniture.